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tv   Key Capitol Hill Hearings  CSPAN  December 5, 2013 6:00am-8:01am EST

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in maintains its path through the fully developed claim process. there are specific rules that will pull that claim out that have process. but now we put the control measures in place, it's not being used or abused. it's not being used to the rate it was when the fully-developed claim process was new. >> my time is expired. i yield back. >> thank you. members, are there any further questions? on behalf of the subcommittee, thank you all for your testimony. you are now excused. i thank everyone for being here with us today. ensuring our veterans receive timely and appropriate decisions regarding their service connected claim is a top priority for the committee and the department. it is unacceptable for the price that -- to be the accuracy of those decisions. will certainly be a seeking more information in the near future on areas discussed as a va continues to march toward the secretary's 2015 goals.
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i would like to once again thank our witnesses for being here today. i asked unanimous consent the members have five legislative days to revise and extend any remarks and include any extraneous material. hearing no objection, so ordered. i thank the members for the at
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maximum height of 40 feet. it is the deadliest philippine typhoon on record killing more than 5600 people. another 1,759 are listed as missing. approximately 26,000 were injured. it's the strongest storm ever recorded at land fall and unofficially the fourth strongest typhoon ever recorded in term of wind speed. we were told that the storm was three and a half times the size of katrina. last week, i lead a congressional delegation to the philippines to witness the disaifertion unleashed by the typhoon. and to gain a better understanding of the unmet needs
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going forward. joined by my distinguished colleagues, trent franks and al greene and staff director. we were unanimous in our deep respect in abiding gratitude for the accomplishment of the u.s. military, usaid leaders, and ngo the ground who alone have committed over $20 million to assist the victims. for their part the philippine military was playing a vital role. along with remnants of local governing bodies. in the immediate aftermath of the storm, right up until our arrival, highly motivated u.s. servicemembers brought needed supplies including food, water, medicine, and housing material by the plane load to the ruins with homeless victims over 19,000 and counting hitching flights back for safety and shelter. as was the case after the 2004
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tsunami, the united states deployed an aircraft carrier. this time the uss george washington and other major military assets to provide assistance. smart, rapid, response combined with air lift capability has made all the difference in the world. in the pill finds, i had the privilege of meeting the cornel chief of staff of the third marine expeanut -- expedition their force. i nomined her to the a it was clear watching him in a, he earned extraordinary respect from the top of the command down to the lowest private. his leadership and that of general kennedy ensured that a desperate shell-shocked population of victims got immediate tangible aid. every marine i saw, every marine we saw including from new jersey
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was working around the clock to protect victims. sleep, what is that one marine told me with a smile. we're saving lives. al, principle adviser for east asia and the foreign disaster relief said, quote, when the u.s. hit the ground, things got moving. this was a model response, he said. we saved lives here. i know, that for a fact, close quote. the cooperation and team work of our military and disaster assistance leaders from usaid including the director of office foreign disaster assistance traveled with us. and ngo community and philippine officials was a textbook example how disaster assistance ought to be done. the relief efforts from far from over. it's now the recovery phase and more needs to be done. with donald rially from catholic
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relief services, we were with him the entire day, when we were in the devastated city, our delegation visited a san ticks kit distry biewx and received a briefing is a medical doctor in my own state of new jersey. we met with numerous survivors who told us heart breaking story. somehow radiated a calm, and inner peace. one man told us how his father had drowned in only a few feet from where we stood. and he carried many water-logged dead bodies to a mass grave. he said he nearly collapsed emotionally; however, whenly carried a lifeless body of a 3-year-old girl. he said had he just broke down. he was overwhelmed. and he felt he could continue no more. amazingly, a few days later, there he was determined to
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rebuild and overcome. it was full of faith. that resiliency was best summed up by archbishop who said, and i quote, the typhoon was the strongest in the world. but our faith in the lord is even stronger. no calamity or natural devastates can quench the fire of our hope. the philippine soul is stronger than yo lane data. our plane was diverted to seek the helicopter that crashed in to the bay. after a flawless just above the deck search for survivors, the helicopter had spunk to the bottom. it was like looking for a needle in the hey stack. -- hay stack. they spotted two individuals who had no life jackets open the back of the c130 kicked out a
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yellow life raft to them. with night darkness approaching. it was clear their lives had been saved. and that was just -- it was a symbol of what everything that was going on in the ground and elsewhere was all about. aboard the crew was cornel john peck, and a group of individuals who were just happy they saved two more lives in addition to automatic the others they had a hand in saving. back we had productive meetings with the health minister, the doctor, and secretary of foreign affairs, albert are czar owe. we met with people from the development corporation. one of whom was matt bond. who told us pursuant to a contract of some 435 million of five years cc grant has only been damaged. and that too, the road they constructed actually paved the way for humanitarian supplies to make their way to the victims.
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we also met with a ton of ngo and other agencies. our interest was not only on effective our emergency was throughout it all, but going forward where our systems ought to be directed in the medium and long-term. we felt that two areas deserved special attention. preventing and addressing potential epidemics, and minimizing the human trafficking. it normally takes a -- after a natural disaster such as a typhoon but international health experts told us that already was endemic in the storm -- and could increase four to five fold in the coming weeks. in addition to cholera, hepatitis a, fever, monopoly, and other diseases can proliferate in a post-storm environment. there are vaccines for cholera, hepatitis a, but there are no
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vaccines for the others. and others that might man fest in huge numbers. they are complicated several factors; first, the philippines is undergoing a rainy season. not only increase breeding grounds for mosquitoes and other disease-bearing pests but harmer relief efforts. many residents without shelter will be more us is susceptible to the element. the lack of electricity can mean no cold for medicine that must be refrigerated. including safe blood for women. there are some 90,000 women who are pregnant who lost their ability to go to a venue where safe delivery can occur. we know that some 200 health clinics have been destroyed there. so a venue for them to give birth safely and access to safe blood remains a serious challenge going forward. third, many roads remain
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uncleared or badly damaged. making transportation for health workers or patients more difficult. fourth, many workers have left the infected areas or died in the storm. and the continued presence of foreign health workers will depend on ongoing donor funding. internationally funded protection efforts currently focus on family reunification, personal identification, and creation of safe spaces for women and children. u.s.a. aide are establish women friendly and child-friendly spaces in strategic locations to address the needs of women in adolescence girls as well as male children. the lack of electricity and insecure housing raises the risk of falling prey to abusers and traffickers especially at night. however, while there's acknowledgment of increased risk of human trafficking, in the wake of this storm, the lack of reports have increased has meant the issue is not not yet in full
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focuses. maybe it's a good news story. we know traffickers are red dpoi prey on the vulnerable and we know that the philippines has a huge problem of women being trafficked and children as well. also, important will be providing shelter for the 1.2 million families whose homes have been damaged or destroyed. they told us that 1.3 billion will be needed to repair and to really erect homes that have been destroyed. the philippines, as we all know, is a major american ally, and a great training partner. there are an estimated 350 americans living in the pill finds and 4 millions faa peen knows living in the united states. we are bound by a common value system and a great deal of friendship that spans well over a century. we have an support stake in seeing our friends and neighbors can recover from the devastating storm. the purpose of the hearing is what do we do next?
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how do we proceed and go forward? i would like to yield to my good friend and colleague for opening. >> thatch, mr. chairman. as usual, i want to thank you for your leadership in holding today's hearing. and also for making the trip to the philippines. i want to exattendant warm welcome to assistant administrator lindberg, for the leadership and agreeing to come before the subcommittee and to our witnesses, thank you for your participating and the important work each of your organization is doing to provide relief and support to those in need. los angeles and my congressional district home to a large philippine population who have family that have been impacted by the typhoon. i personally have friends who could not find their family members for mu days. the u.s. response to this crisis has been nothing but immediate and swift. i want to take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank the important work currently underway by u.s. aide and dod whose rapid response is
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undoubtly saved lives and prevented death and injury. let me extend my deep appreciation to the many u.s. based ngo who leaped in to action and those who continue to take on the long and arduous work of rebuilding and helping mend peoples' lives. i want to yield the rest of my time to representative greene, who i know -- oh. okay, mr. chairman. go ahead. >> before i go to mr. gene, i want to go to chairman rice. ly yield to my friend and colleague. chairman rice, chairman of the committee. >> i'll yield to mr. al green at this time, if that's all right, mr. chairman. thank you. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman, and thank you to mr. royce. mr. royce, i want to thank you because you immediately started this process with the resolution, and i know you'll say more about it. i won't step on your words.
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i want to thank you for moving as expeditiously as you did. mr. chairman, i sincerely thank you, because you were not only a great leader, you were a great inspiration. i will tell you that your summary you just accorded us is entirely accurate, and i would like to associate myself with each and every word you articulated. i'm proud to say that the bill is bipartisan and our effort was truly a sincere, nonpartisan effort. we went there to be of assistance and i'm proud to have been associated with the endeavor. to my ranking member, thank you for allowing me to be a part of this as an interloper. i seem to find my way in to places, and you have greeted me warmly, and i have great respect and admiration for you. i thank you so much for allowing
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me to be a part of this body today. i would like to extend my condolences to the people in the pill finds. -- philippines. they have suffered greatly. they are in the recovery phase, but there is still great work to be done and i want to assure them that my visit has only strengthened and reenforced my belief that there is much we can do to be of assistance. i would like to thank the witness, i did have an opportunity to read your testimony, ms. lind berg. i found it compelling and very extensive and validated what i saw while i was there. so i thank you. i was inspired by the unity of the effort when i was there.
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there was a try par tide process that involved our embassy, which was right there at the forefront, the leadership was stellar and outstanding. we had u.s. u.s.a. id all over the place. it was remarkable to see how the organization managed to become almost you you -- of course we had dod. i was very proud to be an american and to be there. our marines landed and people applauded and the marines didn't just show up in the parlance of many of my friends, who live where i live. they showed up and showed out.
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they acquitted themselves well. the chairman talked about the rescue mission, which was something that happened while we were en route to do something else. they were 66 indication and did it wither lackty. i was proud of the way they handled themselves. the marines that i met about 15 from texas gave me phone numbers and i on thanksgiving day, i received one of the greatest rewards you can receive when you call a family member and say i saw your son, i saw your daughter, i saw your husband and i saw your wife. they're doing well and serving our country well. and there were stares -- tears of joy that emanated from some of these relatives and others were just gratified to know that we took the time to go. so mr. chairman, i think we did a good thing. again, thank you for your leadership.
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mr. franks isn't here. i would like to mention him and say to him i'm proud to enter associated with his effort. he's arrived now. excuse me, mr. franks. my apology. mr. franks from arizona. we had an opportunity to spend lot of time together. and gratified we have the chance to see and unmany things about the philippines. mr. chairman, i don't know how much time you have given me. if you would allow mae couple of more minutes. i appreciate it. i want to mention our relationship with the philippines is one that is solid, in my opinion, because the relationship is based upon, in part, business. we are their second largest trading partner. it's more than a relationship. it's a partnership. we have a visiting force agreement with the pill find -- philippines. it's more than a partisanship. it's also a kinship, because we
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have many american bhos live in the philippines. about 300,000. and we have americans with children that are being born in the philippines. and this relationship this partnership, this kinship, makes our association quite unique. i'm proud of it. i read the testimony, and in your testimony, madam, you mentioned about 800,000 people were moved out of harms' way. that answers a question that i had when i went over there. when i saw the devastates, i immediately asked myself, why weren't more people killed? it was a miracle, in my opinion, that more people were not killed
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but a part of the answer has to do with the way the government was able to evacuate 800,000 people in short order that was a fantastic effort, and i'm proud to say that i know we had a hand in it. i'm proud to say it a lot of lives. and finally, i want to just acknowledge we have a bill health care r3602, and any bill i filed is one that i'm amenable to changing. there's nothing in the bill that is sealed in any sort of permanent way. but what it does simply, is accord filipinos who live in the united states of america.
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we can change the name. we can find another we to do here. here's why i think it's imperative we do this in some way by some name. because the people there in the philippines, 43%, approximately, live off of less than $2 a day. to send people back in to harms' way, in a sense, i think it's a little bit -- to be very kind and sensitive, there are many other adjectives. i think we, as a great country, can allow them to stay for some period of time all negotiateble and work and send remittences back to the philippines. last year minnesota $10 billion were sent from the united states to the film peen -- philippines. more than $10 billion.
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we can help the people of the philippines help themselves with something right now we are calling it temporary protective status. call it anything you want. anybody can sponsor it. i think we need to do something to allow people to help themselves. this is way it can be accomplished. $2 a day, not a lot. we have people working here. their visas will expire. let them don't work and send the remittences back home. the people who say i want to send money, i'm not sure who i should send it to. this way the money will get to people who need it. these are family members and friends of people living in it country. she was the commander of the c130 when i had opportunity to go on the flight deck. i want to put in for a good word for the women who serve in the marines. they are doing an outstanding
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job as well, and i salute her. she is from texas, yes. and she had her co-pilot in training and i was so proud of the way she was training her co-pilot. and i salute all of our men and women who serve. thank you, mr. chairman. i yield back the time i do not have. >> mr. green, thank you very much. it was a privilege to you and franks on the trip. i would like to yield to distinguished mr. rice. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you to yourself, mr. franks, to al green, mr. green you are right. we have a kinship with the people of the philippines, and i think that our hearts really go out for the families and the victims. the 5600 people who lost their lives, but the reason i want to commend the three of you is because your focus on this trip
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was what additional steps can the united states take to make certain that we did not have an epidemic that would follow those who lost their lives that day. that malnourishment wouldn't attitude that toll, and i must tell you as chairman of the foreign affairs committee, i strongly support the u.s. effort here tow help the philippines recover and rebuild and i think the u.s. agency for international development is playing a critical role in this effort. along with the brave men and women of our armed forces. and to date we have allocated $60 mlt to recovery efforts. the uss george washington is stationed offshore to support relief efforts. i think many of the filipino american community were districtly affected. i know, we hear from families about how this type -- the worse on record.
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took from them friends and family members in many cases unaccounted for. we applaud the community's effort to come together and raise funds to donate humanitarian supplies. filipino-americans are rightly proud of their heritage and committed to helping those -- effected by the typhoon. i want to thank cain and randy weber. we had a hearing not long ago. a field hearing, we herd from a filipino who had gone through this tragedy of being labor trafficking trafficking in this case, it is in the wink of >> disasters like this. we're making sure it doesn't happen. i want to thank karen and randy for their work on that issue. and i wanted to say that i had
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the pleasure of meeting with assistant administrator nancy lind berg in the days after the typhoon hit land fall. i want to say it's extraordinary the work usaid is doing there. we want to thank you and your team for bringing comfort and compassion to those who need most. i have one issue i want to raise. one which we met with bill gates, the committee members met with bill gates several hours ago. it's one of the issue he addressed as well in this meeting. that is the unacceptably long transit times for supplies to reach those who need it most. the 60-year-old law that governs fooding prevents the timely delivery of assistance by requiring the commodities be sourced directly from the u.s. and then transported overseas.
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60 years ago, this made sense. today it has become an unnecessary barrier. in the case of the philippines, usaid made a cash contribution directly to the world food program so commodities can be purchased locally. in comparison, the first shipment of u.s. rice to the philippines is arriving now. just arrived three weeks after -- after the typhoon made land fall. so surely we can do better than that, it's time we updated our loss. and i didn't want to say that we have language that we believe we hope is going to be in the farm bill in order make the reform. so, mr. chairman, i am heartened by the outpouring of support that the international community has shown to the philippines. i thank you, again, for your hard work on this issue. two weeks ago this committee voted unanimously to support of
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bipartisan resolution that i authored expressing our condolences for the people of the philippines and in support of the recovery effort being waged now by usaid and the department of defense and earlier this year, i lead a bipartisan delegation with my good friend, ranking member, to the philippines to strengthen our bilateral relationship with that country. we're going do that again in the wake of these issues. but in the interim, i want to thank all the members of the committee and to say we are all filipinos during this difficult time. i look forward to hearing from our distinguished witness. >> thank you for your leadership and comment today. i would like to recognize -- >> thank you, mr. chairman. and thank you for calling this hearing and as we start to look at the issue, and a personal
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firsthand testimony you and others who visited the region. it's certainly one that can't help but touch your heard when you hear about people being displaced tps. whard we start talking in millions to really recognize the size of that. but it's the size of the state of oregon. if everybody in oregon were displaced, you know, it's just monumental in term of the impact. so i think in a town where many times we can be very critical, agencies and their role in what has happened. and the testimony that has been shared by my colleague, be green, and the chairman. certainly is something that needs to be applauded and we need to celebrate the screeses and hopefully put a model going forward on how we can make sure that our response is not only
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rapid but one that is sustainable. i think the difficulty we have is with so many tough situations throughout our world is being able to replicate and make sure that the bureaucracy does not get in the way of providing good support. yet, at the same time where we just don't throw money at it. and chairman royce just mentioned this particular issue on a 60-year-old law that we need address, and look at that in a real way to make sure that in times of emergency, people can work together. i want to just thank the chairman and ranking member bass for the continued bipartisan. there's very little that is bipartisan in this town. and time and time and time and time again i find that -- with the interest of the people. not only the united states
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citizens but in this particular case, the filipino people that are hurting and suffering. my heart, my prayers, and my continued support to advance the cause to provide relief is unyielding. with that i yield back. >> thank you very much. mr. weber? >> thank you for the meeting. mr. chairman i have lot of questions. i'm short on time. i have a 4:00 meeting. i'm going let you go. >> mr. franks. >> well, thank you, mr. chairman. i want to thank the, i guess chairman rise has gone to another committee. we appreciate his fore berns in all of this. it's certainly been a precious honor to have been part of this delegation, and, you know, it seems like congressman chris shit is always at the forefront to do anything he can to recognize the image of god in
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every person across our world in our midst. i have seen him to be the first to care about and love those that everybody has forgotten about. he's a hero to me and i have the great respect for everything he's done. and congressman green, someone i held to be a friend before we went. now i hold to be a precious friend. and was so touch bid the way he put it apedly it was a truly bipartisan effort to making a nonpartisan goal to try to reach tout filipino people. and i appreciate to congressman green very, very much. as it happens, i have the privilege, and i mean that, the privilege to have been married to a lady from the philippines for 33 years. i don't know how in the world it happened, but if she ever leaves me.
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i'm going go with her. save a little trouble that way. she has been the delight of my life. and it is representativive of the noble nature of the filipino people. this is the people that refused, as congressman smith said to be brought down ultimately bit the storm. they were stronger than the storm. and i couldn't help but notice someone had taken a picture out on a high hill there that have been devastated all around. and the banner simply said, roofless, homeless, but not hopeless. i was deeply moved by that. they said the filipino people are people of deep abiding faith, and have a courage that sometimes belies their stature and gentleness. i can't exprez to you the warmth i feel toward the filipino people. maybe i'm a little biased.
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i assure you it's well justified. i suppose note point out they have been strong allies of the united states in times past critical allies of the united states. one of the places where the storm actually came to shore was place marked -- decades ago. and i thought the symbolism was pretty profound. i would be really lax in not pointing out my agreement with both congressman green and congressman smith remitted to -- related to the coordination that occurred there among usaid and all the groups and the ngo. and i have to say especially the american military. i suppose there's no enemy on earth more to be feared than the american military. >> but is no friend that can be more capable and more committed
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than the same group of men and women i think signify everything american is about. they provided a base of operation there, and the muscle to make this all work. and i know there are so many philippine people we didn't get there in time to help. help didn't get there in time. i only hope that somehow they are not forgotten. their memory is kind of catalyst in our own hearts to recognize to be an american is a privilege and also one of the things we sometimes forget how much easier we have. everything about the appropriate to do what we can to extend the hand of freedom and hope to those that are in need. and this is what this was about. and i think it not only is
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exfies what america believes and stands for. but, mr. chairman, it can have the effect of seeing the light of freedom someday fall across every lonely place and lonely face on this planet. and so let me just suggest to you that i am very honored to be an american and part of this effort. and i'm grateful to all the people that have given their lives to these kinds of cause. i'm hoping, mr. chairman, i can ask her when she has the opportunity. because my challenge i have to leave as well. but i'm hoping she can address the whole issue about who usaid's plans and efforts to protect trafficked children, abused children, and what are the best programs they have to protect children from being abused in these crises like
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this? how do we make sure the programs are in place? and i'm going go ahead and mention the whole epidemic situation that may follow whatever area might be and what we need to do to be prepared for those kind of crises. and finally, you know, it's it's a suggest there had while we were there when people like chris smat and congressman green and others talk about this in the media it keeps this issue in front of the public. which allows them to respond financially and otherwise. it's a consequence that ends up protecting real lives. and i'm hoping you might express ways that as members of congress that we can extend our efforts there to make sure we are doing everything we can here and the safety of the capital to do what we can to see preace and help extend it. with that, mr. chairman, i just -- more than anything else a sen of
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gratitude. grateful to all of you, and you sir, especially. and god bless the filipino people. >> thank you very much, mr. franks. i would like to introdisuse our first panel. beginning with nancy lindberg. conflict and humanitarian assistance at usaid. she testified before our committee on several previous occasions promoting earlier this year in the crisis being intorn in to office october of 2010 ms. lind berg has lead the team in the response to the ongoing syria crisis.
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prior to joins she was president of the mercy corp. she spent 14 years. she held a number of leadership positions on including service as copresident of the board of directors of the u.s. global leadership coalition. one of the founders and board member of the national committee in n one of the founders and board members of the national committee in north corey and chair of the the management committee and also a member of the council on foreign relations. shield the b a and m a in english literature from stanford university and an aide in public administration from the john f. kennedy school of government at harvard university. the floor is yours. >> thank you very much. chairman smith, ranking member's -- bass, thank you for letting me testify today. congressman smith, thank you for leading the delegation and to all of you who ran during this important time and most of all, thanks to all of you for the
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ongoing support that enables us to do this life-saving were can't express who we are as americans in these times of need. that is vitally important. this has been the worst year since 1993 for the philippines and the november rate supertyphoon was the worst of those storms, the worst of an already bad year with 195 m.p.h. winds, storm surge that reached higher and went farther inland and the indian ocean tsunami. we know 5,600 people have died and nearly eleven million have been affected and many of you expressed the wish i express my deepest condolences to the people of the philippines. visa like changing losses that will take many years to fully regroup from. i traveled to the philippines one week after the storm made landfall and saw the staggering
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devastation. if you see the photographs, when you are in it is eerie, twisted landscape of the boats and cars tossed it in trees and people's lives utterly destroyed but you also see the signs of hope, signs of humanities and surface even during these difficult moments. i met a brother and sister and a sister was telling me how her brother rescued 13 people at great personal sacrifice during the typhoon. these are the stories that are side by side with the devastation and the loss and a great resilience of the people as they begin to emerge from the rest of the storm. also sought massive relief efforts already in full swing. i arrive on a u.s. military c-130 that was carrying life-saving supplies that usaid brought from our regional depots. also saw the rise we enable the
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food program to buy locally being put into family tax and distributed so that it was in the hands of them to.7 million people within the first week, making the life-saving difference and i visited government incident command centers that were mapping out the distribution, sending supplies on buses and trucks they had recruited into the effort. this is the result of a ten year partnership with usaid to increase prepared this and the ability to respond. u.s. military aircraft delivered 2,000 tons of relief supplies and evacuate it 21,000 people out of storm damage areas once we got back in. to date the u.s. government has provided $60 million in humanitarian assistance. all of that is already on the ground, has made a difference in
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those early life-saving days. as we noted we are looking ahead to recovery and reconstruction. i submitted a detailed testimony but let me hit on a few highlights from the relief, recovery and reconstruction aspects. the first is we have applied some key lessons from past disasters that helped us improve the cool ordination and response for this typhoon. usaid experts were tracking the typhoon fort least a week before it hit ground so we were able to prepossession members of the disaster assistance response team in manila to work with the military and the embassy bose to prepare and enable an immediate response. usaid worked hand in glove with dod specific command to set up the vital air bridge at a time when communications were shut down, roads were inaccessible, the we were able to immediately do assessments and begin
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delivering life-saving supplies into one of the hardest-hit cities. then we invested and supported the capacity of the civilian side, the government and the un to set up land and sea bridgees to clear the roads so that we were able to wrap up the military engagement and bring forward the longer term civilian ability to ensure deliveries were able to continue so logistics' were our number one most urgent focus, followed by three key priorities, emergency shelter, water sanitation and food. there were a million homes that were destroyed by the storm so we airlifted right away heavy-duty plastic sheeting to the philippines that helped 20,000 families construct temporary shelters. the water supplies were ravaged, systems were down so we focused
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on provision of clean water, chlorine tablets, very quickly to get the municipal water system back and running with support from unicef and by the time i was there that was already providing a one hundred% a little water from the municipal area. the philippines government and the international community continued to respond to the health concerns, nearly 200 health teams are on the ground now and 2,000 children have been immunized against measles and polio, perhaps because of the urgency you brought there are a fogging operations underway right now to address potential for mosquito borne diseases especially during a fever and withstanding water trapped in the debris this is a particular concern so there has been a big push for these operations. we use the full spectrum of our
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food assistance tools, local purchase of rice got food immediately into the hands of people who needed it. we also were able to airlift nutrient dense food buys and nutritious taste from regional warehouses and when there were no cooking facilities available families were able to get a full calory out of the u.s. produce food bars. we rerouted a ship that was located in our home in sri lanka and brought that to the philippines. that ship arrived yesterday afternoon and although it wasn't there for the life-saving portion it will be an important part of the ongoing response. the importance of this very flexible suite of tools. we know the most vulnerable, the women, the children, the elderly and those with special needs often scan the worst during disasters. we have a state initiative which
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reminds all of us we need to do protection from the earliest days of a response. we are supporting programs that are working with identification, tracing and reunification of unaccompanied children focusing on faith basis for women and children and one of the most important protection approaches is missing sure a gets to people who need it as quickly as possible. i wanted to save a note about the power of preparedness. we have been working with the government of the philippines which is the second most disaster prone country in the region to help prepare and mitigate the risk of natural disasters for almost a decade to. this is important, this helped make this not as bad as it could have been. we have been training on first responders on something called an incident command system that we brought forward from our own u.s. forest service that enables
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the government to set up these command centers and know what to do and how to bring forward the right kind of trained people. they evacuate nearly 800,000 people in advance of the storm and saved countless lives. this is something we will continue to do as we grapple with the new normal of increased storms that are battering an island nation like the philippines. we also learned from past response efforts that we have to move as quickly as possible into early recovery. this is vital so people can get on with their lives so they don't get mired in hopelessness and they can start standing on a two feed again. we are already seeing market activity scaring up even in the hardest-hit areas so we are looking at how to provide life-saving assistance that is also very aware of local coping mechanisms and local markets. we are moving forward at our strategy is for provision of
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livelihood support looking at transitional shelter, continued food security, water sanitation efforts and continued protection of the most vulnerable populations including the human trafficing issues that are important and very much a part of our consideration. the government of the philippines just released its first early draft of what they think they will need for long-term reconstruction. we identified $2.6 million. each year the philippines lose $5 billion as a result of natural disasters, 2% of its gdp. as we look ahead to the reconstruction one of the areas we will look closely at is continuing preparedness, risk reduction and how to build resilience at the household, the system and the country level. this was one of the three areas
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for our usaid mission and this will be critical looking ahead. we are prioritizing our efforts to support the critical areas that have been identified including the infrastructure, the livelihood and essentials circuss that are necessary to get those communities on their feet. finally, we know the most vulnerable will continue to be important as we go forward. just to conclude, a number of you have noted the important relationship between the united states in the philippines. we have seen an outpouring of generosity from americans across the country, especially the philippines diaspora. i had the pleasure of participating in several community events and the way people mobilized to provide help to those in their hour of need is really heartening and it underscore is that humanity we
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all share. united states has a deep commitment, we will stay with the people and the government of the philippines into the recovery and reconstruction era. we are seeing the cameras start to fade away and this has become yesterday's story so the kind of fun of hearings we are having today, the continued commitment we, the united states, will have to the philippines will be absolutely vital and i look forward to answering your questions and i think you very much for your support and consideration today. >> thank you for your testimony. without objection your full testimony will be made a part of the record. i have read it and it answers some of the questions i would have posed so thank you for the thoroughness and your extraordinary leadership. a few questions, i will ask the mall and if you will then respond to them, one of the biggest take aways we had from our trip was debris. there was debris everywhere. it was a story to grease stories high.
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it looked like there was a lack of capacity or capability to remove it. i know that there are some cash for work programs. when we got hit, i wonder if that might be one job they might undertake because the dogs, the rodents which proliferate diseases including let this process which could easily erupt as the major health hazard, when we got hit by super itstorm sandy in new jersey, a lot of my short counts were all unbelievably negatively affected we had debris everywhere but thankfully we had functioning mayors and town councils, the ability of the sheriff, the office of emergency management leader, they did wonderful job in coordinating debris removal and environmentally safe depositing of that debris. our takeaway collectively was what are they going to do with all this stuff? it is everywhere and i wonder if
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you might speak to that. on the issue of trafficking. i'm a proud sponsor of the trafficking protection act and work on combating human trafficking every day, every day. we are all concerned that the recovery effort down the road is open, most of them, the traffickers including women who have made their way to manila may look to prey upon vulnerable people who over a longer period of time they have lost some hope for may be very gullible for an offer to go to saudi arabia or korea or somewhere else in the philippines for what looks like a real job and turns out to be an engraved invitation to a hell on earth which would be a trafficking situation. i understand one person on a response team, is that enough?
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has this been brought to you in a robust way to apply every best practices they know to mitigate human trafficking? we learned, this is a minimum estimate, 90,000 pregnant women, my and standing as there are some estimates that put that even higher in the affected areas, the availability of safe blood where the woman can give birth and the need at see section is a compelling need, my opening of the health clinics that have been destroyed or seriously damaged, i am wondering what plans are to ensure that as these women especially in the final three months of pregnancy get close to birth of their children, to ensure there is safe blood. needs a see section or some
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other help to help mother and baby. parenthetically my own daughter-in-law, grandparent of three grandchildren, just in july in a princeton hospital had an emergency see section, lost two leaders of blood and had to send out for some of it because they had some and not enough. in a lavished area, that could mean death to a woman were availability of safe blood, if you could address that, the issue of best practices learned from the earthquake in haiti and the indian ocean, i was on the abraham lincoln with a group of members who went during the tsunami, deployment of the
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aircraft carrier was a cassette, an anchor for relief efforts during the emergency phase. what other best practices were applied as a result of the typhoon? >> you raise a lot of critical issues. this is the critical issue. government of the philippines has a salvage first policy. you may have seen people are already starting to pick through what is reusable versus what needs to be put into a landfill. we are taking this into account in designing our transitional shelter programs and also incorporating what we call cash for work, our partners who have a lot of skill and experience in
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doing programs that provided a day's wage in return for clearing debris away. this will be a huge challenge, an important challenge. unfortunately or fortunately, philippines have a fair amount of experience in dealing with debris. it is a scale issue and it will be an area of immediate focus as we look ahead. you raised some of the other associated concerns about disease with the debris and for that reason the fogging is an important approach because there is standing water. the other issue is they are pulling bodies out from mountains of debris and that will likely remain an ongoing effort as they work their way through the recovery. on trafficking this has been an area of concern in the
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philippines, the united states has put $11 million in to countertrafficking. and we work with the philippines interagency council for countertrafficking. they remain vigilant about the possibility of increased trafficking, whenever you have a major disaster like this and people are newly vulnerable there is potential for increase trafficking and for that reason, we are watching this very closely, working with the local partners who we work with all the time and looking to see where and if and how we need to increase the programming we already have in the philippines and we are talking closely with our partners. so thank you for your support on that. on the pregnant women the whole issue of the cold chain is
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critical not just for pregnant women but the immunizations that have to go forward so that is the priority between the government of the philippines and unicef. we have provided support to get a cold chain up and running so you are able to bring forward critical medicines including blood. there are 184 medical teams on the ground, there has been a fairly robust international response to try to fill the devastating gap that the storm created and they are operating in the affected areas working to reestablish those critical facilities. also importantly the early evacuation. i mentioned i rode in on us see 130, u.s. military see 130s as they carried supplies in carried people out and 12,000 people were evacuated and the hope is those who need that kind of
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specialized assistance including the more complicated births are able to get out. finally, in terms of best practices there were a lot of important best practices week of forward from past disasters and one resulted in close, very effective collaboration between usaid and dod and we were able because of the work we had done together previously, very quickly stand-up and affective air bridge that prioritized the most important -- one thing that happened in haiti was there was the clogging of supplies that went through the system and sometimes not the most important supplies went first so the scene was collaboration, a hallmark of this effort really grew out of the lessons from haiti.
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>> not to make light but i'd brought up sandy everywhere i went and pointed out when i was 17 years old with no parental notification or consent my friend and i used to follow the fogger in new jersey, and on our bikes. the ability to reduce the impact of dan gaetz fever and mosquito borne diseases that are looming, the attendant risk fogging might bring, the risk versus the benefit of stopping several epidemics from bursting out, so happy to hear that. i have never seen and my colleague will agree with this, have never seen more standing water putrefying than we saw with the result of this typhoon which is a breeding ground.
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>> there is a great concern, not just try to address the surveillance system, the health surveillance system because in the wake of the storm, we need to quickly how of the ability to identify an outbreak so that you can do the fast treatment so it is those two actions, the surveillance system and preventive fogging that are underway. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and thank you for your leadership. it has been stellar. i would like to follow up on one thing that you mentioned about the filipino community and the diaspora. in houston, texas, we have
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39,000 filipinos, and i will tell you the community has organized comment and the community has raised what i think it's a fairly handsome sum of money that has been sent to the filipino community, my community is on board with the effort. i had the opportunity to go to pakistan after the earthquake and communities that were flange. and i saw a rail car that has been with the way from the track and a long distance from where it should have been.
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when to haiti, the devastation and the great work to be done in haiti. went to louisiana from louisiana, and the devastation that took place. in my humble opinion what i saw, it is right there when the great disasters of my time, and i hope you will continue to do what you had doing. it doesn't do it on its own volition. to help others in their times of need. i trust usaid will continue to
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be a great servant, and i want to talk about the business community. i had the privilege of meeting with the leading citizens who are the heads of major corporations, and we talked extensively about the money that they have that they can record and a crisis that they can share in a crisis and they stepped up to the plate, they are making plans to do more. one thing we talked about was schools. the infrastructure has been destroyed, 90% of the infrastructure for schools has been destroyed and children, what they normally do, in a
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classroom, business leaders indicated a willingness to be able to help with schools so my hope is there will be some coordinated effort between the business community and the ngos, or the parties involved to help children, people in the dawn of life and the twilight of life, our children are precious commodity and my hope is we will do some things to help with their education. the senior citizens who are not able to take care of themselves to the extent that you and i take care of ourselves, i would like you to comment on efforts that are made to comment on schools, efforts to reestablish schools as quickly as possible. when we met with the mayor she
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indicated the number one concern was shelter. the number one concern was shelter. this was a case in louisiana after katrina, it was a case in haiti, pakistan and sri lanka. i have a lot of experiences dealing with shelter after these tragic events and what you said is true about them being in harm's way to this very day because the hurricane season, the typhoon season for them reaches its apex in the month of december so there may be something else looming on the horizon. if you would comment on the shelter issue and finally one additional comment and compliment if you will was referenced to the ability to
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move 800,000 people. that is remarkable. it is no small feat. to do this, the coordinated effort that it took to get it done. i know you mentioned at, if you could say a bit more about how it was accomplished, i will be honored to hear. i will await the ladies answers. >> that is an amazing set of places that you visited and you have seen each instance the awesome power these natural events have to disrupt and destroy. to address your issues, let me first of all honor your
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community for their ability, their commitment to mobilize, and affect a focus on raising cash. one of our major messages has been to the american people and to focus on cash, the most effective -- thank you for that. also we do have a list to provide your offices that is kicking out regular updates that are of interest, specifically or especially the diaspora. so be sure to get that to you. in the private sector, this is an incredible, an important part of the response, the private business sector and the american public. we see how those contributions, very important and the construction effort, the immediate and longer-term
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reconstruction. the working group that we set up, specifically to look at how to bring forward the partnerships and i know a number of in geos are also quite experienced and committed to partner into the private sector so we will see a lot of those efforts going forward. schools are essentials and it is part of getting a sense of normalcy back into the people's lives. and to focus on the future instead of their loss and people are amazingly resilient but it is important that they have the opportunity not to lose out on critical schooling year's so that is part of the infrastructure, one of the largest priorities. you quite rightly have shelter as a priority and areas that are
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one of the most challenging after these storms. we have learned a lot in terms of the importance of providing transitional shelter that gets people very quickly into the kind of shelters that can withstand additional weather events, understanding that it may be a while for permanent shelter solutions to come on stream. we saw this even in katrina. the other challenge is there is often a desire to look at policies that help citizens rebuild in the areas that are at greatest risk. it takes a while for government to responsibly work through to a solution so our strategy was to provide that urgent life-saving shelter material that got people out of the elements, we got our
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shelter expert on the ground on traditional shelter programs. and we will be very supportive particularly of the issue of insuring that there are people very much respected for the long-term shelter solution. >> my staff director in nigeria in september. health and an effort to get them designated a foreign terrorist organization. a bishop who had lost funding for aids orphans and it raises
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serious questions that i have been asking for more than 30 years and that is the robust inclusion of faith based organizations which i leave whether we are combating things like hiv aids, the program there or malaria, tuberculosis, doing operations in a typhoon or other natural disasters, the efficacy of relief operation is enhanced when faith based operations are robustly included, people on the ground, the multiplier effect i have seen over and over again and what i found in nigeria was a lean 9%, 91%, particularly when healthcare is primarily faith based, getting money grants from the u.s. government. it was very disconcerting to me. the services for getting support and we saw when we went to the
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transfiguration church a week before that, i understand cardinal mccarrack celebrated mass there. we celebrated communion. it was a church without a roof, completely blown off and destroyed and unfortunately it will have to be rehab. i encourage you that every dollar spent their does get multiplied because of the unbelievable commitment that has nothing to do with money and everything to do with service for service sake and also because of the multiplier effect of the volunteers that are included in the operation. you can take that back if you want to respond. the recovery must be sustainable and know that you have friends and advocates here. it is bipartisan. the chairman, all of us i believe, if we know the need, your folks on the ground say
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cash for the work needs an additional push, let us know. we can try to increase the capabilities that you will then have on the ground to help the people who have been ravaged by this storm. >> to your first point, amen. we have a lot of faith based partners and i think we are seeing especially how important that is with the network of churches they have. i was on a call with faith based community numbers across the country talking about the philippines response. to support the relief and recovery efforts so absolutely
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agree that that is an important part of the landscape and our most valued partners including the two who are coming up next. on the offer to help us keep sustained attention on this, i very much thank you for that and i welcome the opportunity to take you up on that offer. we see all too often that after the cameras go away these kinds of responses fall off the page and people move on to other kyushu's. we will be there with our teams, our funding programs and we welcome the partnership in helping to keep the spotlight on a sustained effort and i cannot thank chairman smith, congressman green and the rest of your subcommittee for the continued focus and support for these kinds of critical efforts. >> that kind of sentiment could
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be shared with the health minister and others, i raised it in the meeting with him and it was a foreign idea to him. i asked to look into it and he said he would. because they don't include faith based organizations and those things that they fund. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to thank ranking member bass for allowing me to be here. i want to add amen to what you said about the faith based initiative. they not only have after a disaster but also before, i have seen evidence of it because they know where the vulnerable are. they know where the help is needed. they are intimately familiar with the people in the neighborhood, they can do a lot with the evacuation process, and
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shelter in place, no more than we can do given that the hurricane or a typhoon is so dear now that we have to stay where we are. when that happens it is usually these institutions, these faith based institutions that are still there. we leave, but they write these things out and as soon as it is over they know exactly where to go to deliver the most aid. i would like to give my complement to you for bringing up this -- >> thank you and i would like to add one other thing. the concern we have about the bias against them is well-founded. after superstorm sandy offered a bill on the house of representatives that passed 354, totally bipartisan would have
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provided fema funding, the front-line defense in terms of humanitarian aid to people in new york ravaged by superstorm -- superstorm sandy. fema opposes it, of the senate has opposed it and refuses to even bring it up for a vote. i can't tell you how disappointed and agreed is wrong i think those who are first and foremost on the relief side being told about fema relief, no investigation of church and state issue, and that kind of bias, and is so important, and more you can help out the better. >> i would like to welcome our
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second panel beginning with mr. sean callahan executive vice president for overseas operation and regional director for south asia among other roles. he led the regional response to floods, cyclones, man made emergency in south asia, and he has experienced a terrorist attack in a sri lanka airport. worked closely with mother teresa and the missionaries of charity in calcutta and worked on programming in afghanistan during and after the taliban. without objection his full resume and that our next witness will be made part of the record and i would like to introduce mr. chris palusky, a humanitarian professional with 13 years of international relief, development and fund-raising experience. he has served on a wide range of emergency responses assisting with natural disasters and complex humanitarian
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emergencies. you worked in hot spots and crises for a majority of his time and humanitarian specialists including kosovo, afghanistan, sri lanka, lebanon and molly. in addition to his experience, mr. palusky served in senior leadership positions with the humanitarian organizations including care, america's purse, world relief. the floor is yours. >> thank you, mr. chairman. you are holding this session with ranking member bass and other subcommittee members and represented to green. before we go in i will summarize my comments. i ask that the written testimony be added in for the record. first, thank you for this opportunity to speak.
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i thank both of you, mr. franks as well, for participating in the trip out, able to participate in hosting you as well. these trips are not only important for the stewardship of the resources the u.s. is committing and generate energy but the kind of trip that shows the compassion of the u.s. and we found when we were there and we arrived a week after the disaster as you stated earlier, the outpouring from the filipino people and thanks to the united states was overwhelming. any place we went people came out to thank the united states for that commitment and support that was provided at the time and i think that recognition really shows something of the filipino people but also is something the united states should be very proud of. i want to reflect as well, the comments here earlier about the type of response that occurred,
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to quickly summarize i think the united states, the un, the local organizations and a filipino government really did an outstanding job as articulated before. from our point of view it was the rapid response on the ground. we have a presence of 100 staff working with local civil society, the church organization, we have people in these sites a day after the disaster occurred and the response was immediate. i would also highlight from the previous presenter, nancy lindborg, that usaid was very forthright and took advantage to communicate directly to faith based organizations like catholic relief services to let us know if we need any assistance at all to get in touch with them. the head of 0 fda and his deputy took pre-emptive policy to say
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if things don't move fast, if anything is blocked up they would assist in moving that forward. they set up a third team on the ground in the philippines and also a special emergency coordination unit in washington. i will say they were wonderful, including on the ground, the mission director met with us as well during our visit and she was very supportive of the efforts, more funding that was provided and looking forward to our assistance and long-term. that was positive and the u.n. used the shelter model as the cluster model used in the future. and particularly unicef was particularly strong out of the
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gate. we have been in the same areas in pakistan, there has been a lot of learning that has gone on. the tsunami was the first time that we really worked closely with the american military setting up temporary bridges to get to islands and locations that were transfigured as the geography changed in that. in haiti the u.s. military came up in the philippines, the military tried to do it with a lighter presence and they were going out in the philippines when they came in, there was joy for most of the people we talked to. it was very impressive even in the media out let's. the fact the we had an aircraft carrier as mentioned earlier was seen as ferrying assistance back and forth, seen as assisting
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other countries and lift capacity was very impressive at that time. on the ground people were questioning their own governments, no one was questioning the resolve to provide assistance. i will say as comments have come about about the diaspora in the united states, much outrage from the program providing assistance for this case and we raised $50 million in contributions, the catholic church of united states initiated a national collection which resources will come in so the solidarity of the american people has been the most in addition to that, c r s is a member of international catholic organization, that group came together and we met and had an international meeting in the philippines with our local church partners. i would be remiss if i didn't talk about our local church partners. as we responded to this
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disaster, as you mentioned we were there a week after the disaster and he celebrated mass in the cathedral without a roof in the rain at that time, it is not only the material assistance we are seeing in the united states that we are seeing that the spiritual, as rep green appropriately said it is that kinship and after the mass the people coming up to the cardinal who can celebrate with two archbishop's who were so taken that and american cardinal would come, traveled with him to the location where he had been stationed before. the archbishop apollo was archbishop at the time, we met with the cardinal in manila and who was organizing a day of prayer for the people in the philippines and raising assistance as well there.
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when we talk about assistance we don't mention the crs focusing -- the catholic church focusing on food assistance. most devastated by the supercyclone, they provided assistance to various diocese so an individual dioceses in the philippines, as mr. frank's mentioned, the solidarity, resiliency, strength of the filipino people after being through such a disaster, after this we had journalists and others who are in tears, struggling to find family members as we were going by bearing people at the side of the road so it was a very e emotional time but the church
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was there immediately. when we arrived outside the cathedral you mentioned we were greeted by a young man in biking shorts and a t-shirt. he was the monsignor of the chapel and the only way he could get around to register people to connect with different people was to ride on a bicycle and they were going around the island trying to locate people, register people, tell people that after mass crs was going to be there to provide distribution and registered people so right away they were setting up the systems on the ground, locating people and identifying as mr. green mentioned the most vulnerable people in the community to make sure they were assisted. apologize to the cardinal, the cardinal went up to him and gave him a big hug. it was all wonderful moment as we saw that type of response and solidarity that will continue and the holy father has spoken
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about as well. i will say the immediate response as has been mentioned, as represented to green mentioned, 60,000 families, 80,000 people, when we were out there, people were in open air, even our aid workers, one of them and turning to the archbishop, have you ever slept in your office? why do you ask? because i am sleeping there now. it was the type of thing where everybody was joining together but even the church structures people were around the outside of the walls because many roofers have been destroyed. we are looking to a future, the church has said it wants to rebuild its institutions but the people come first so they're looking at how to help people get their necessary shelter but the archbishop mentioned 72 of
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74 churches lost their roofs. they are sheltering people -- his personal house looks like it was hit by a bomb, floors were slanted and everything is ruined but he wasn't there trying to recover his possession, he was getting assistance out there. the church has been strong. with the issue of protection. we have been focused on sheltering in place and the reason we are focusing on that is the design we have is using these solid tarps for protection, also recovery of debris so they can use that in the rebuilding of their homes. the sheltering in place is another way we find providing protection for people particularly women, children and the elderly so they are not transmitted to a camp where they might be more vulnerable. sheltering in the locations where they are part of the community and the church can keep touch with them where they come back and forth to the
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church so we're seeing that as one way of preventing the issues in trafficking, we are working closely with the local government, the department of social welfare in those areas to make sure those people stay safe. our second focus area has been water and sanitation, looking at ladders out in communities that don't have access. we have been accessing and trying to provide greater access to the water facility which is coordinated, our water engineers probably overchlorinated at the time but like those trucks, better to have a little overchlorination because people can't claim -- in the wash area also focusing on protection in that we are separating facilities for men and women, found this in the camps as well, between shower facilities and
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bathroom facilities for men and women and children so they were protected and we have adequate lighting which has been a problem but we have been providing hygiene to people so the women can have flashlights and are organizing a buddy system, individuals are in open air dedication but areas that they can be protected. we have received some cash for work and cleaning debris and trying to reuse debris, and we are looking at for rebuilding and preventing epidemics as nancy lindborg mentioned earlier. in addition we are looking for the longer term. i will follow up quickly on that. as we look at the longer term we are looking at shelter for the longer term, building back better as we learned in haiti and durable solution is one of the problems we think we will run into as this comes down is land titles, whose property is
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it. most of these people lost everything so supposing we starting this rebuilding process there will be many people with no title to the main, no historical memory so that will be a key issue. we're looking at livelihood. many of the people also harvested coconuts. five years to rebuild so we're trying to generate in this emergency phase opportunities for livelihood with cash for work and other opportunities so other people can regenerate their livelihoods. as we look to the future i would once again, our recommendations would be to commend your cells and other actors in the government and military for tremendous -- it has been fantastic and i appreciate that you are looking not only at the
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emergency response but the future, continued to be the ongoing funding for the relief. we need to focus on that as we move into the future and showing our solidarity we are in the holiday season and we are thankful for the things we have in this country and come in to christmas which is the big holiday in the philippines many of these people will be without that. as you rightly said, many people and children because there are no schools have been sent to a very strong family structure network in other areas of the philippines there is concern we and others have that that is probably more of an opportunity for children and women to be lost, traffic or exploited. we are looking at ways the church shares information from one diocese to another where people are coming and make sure they are checking in. we find education is a key way of protecting children. if you can get children into school it is a daily mechanism
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where teachers and outside people can check are they being fed properly, do they need other things? we find the greatest protection is to make sure schooling is back and we get these kids back in school. whether that means they're moving to other family cites 0 we get schools up would be key to the future. also with support for recovery phase shelter is going to be a key ariane and we were lucky the church actors were trained in disaster risk reduction. they knew once it happened how to register, how to do triage in certain areas. we need to continue those processes as the philippines are hit by a bigger and bigger stores and focus on building resilience of those communities. i will also propose that we strengthen the emergency response capacity of the local mission. miss steele has been strong on the development aspect and supportive of the reconstruction
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efforts, but i don't think they have the team and staff to respond to three to five effort and we will look at mechanisms to assist her and her staff in responding over the longer term and assisting the filipinos in developing. as has been mentioned before the filipino community has been quick to respond. they have been very resilient, very proud people and the caring people and a slower start winding up and moving forward. with some leadership in the u.s. which they would very much welcome they would be positioned well for the future. >> thank you for that tremendous job catholic relief services is doing. we were fully relieved, took us literally -- it was extremely impressed. thank you for your leadership, for breeding us before we left.
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have been a great fan of worldvision. >> i have a written statement but before that i wanted to say thank you. it is great to be part of this. ..art of one of these events before and i'm amazed to see everyone come together and be across panel or however you describe it, to support across the congress. it's great to see people come together in something we do focus on not just the

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